GURUJI'S MESSAGE ON UGADI PARVA PUJA (Indian New Year)

Guruji conducted Rudrabhisheka today on 1st day of Chaitra Shukla
Paksha according to Indian Calender. This is the first day of the New
Year. At the end of puja Bhanu Didi went on stage to do Aarati of
Guruji and a devotee started singing 'Abhayam Abhayam Amma Amma"
Gradually Guruji came into BHAVA with a gentle deep smile on face and
Abhaya Mudra. After the Aarati some naration was made from Panchang by
pandits.


Guruji spoke:

" We are entering into 5110 year of Krishna calender and 2066 year of
Vikrama Samvata. These are Moon and Sun based ancient Calenders
followed in India. This year is named as 'Virodhi" year from the cycle
of 60 years.

But who ever is a Devotee and Spiritual practitioner, this year will
not prove to be Virodhi. This year the devotees and Spiritual people
must give top priority to Meditation and spiritual practices as
compared to Material goals. Few percent of Devotees and Spiritual
person's practices will not only protect them but bring Peace and
Prosparity to all the other people.

Sri Sri ....on effects of satsang.

‘Harmony is born in sound’
WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF SATSANG
Bangalore Ashram, March 26

“Harmony is born in sound,” Sri Sri told the 700-strong crowd, adding, “ This is what happens in satsang.” Briefly speaking about the effect that sound has on particles, Sri Sri said, “Your body is made up of particles. Music has an effect on it. That’s why satsang is important. When you’re in satsang, just be immersed in it. Satsang changes the particles in your body. It reorganises your system. Experiments by a scientist have proved that particles – whether chalk dust or iron follicles – dance to music and arrange themselves in beautiful patterns.

So, LET US ALL NOT MISS OUR WEELKY SATSANG.

Last day satsang of our course was full of energy and vibrance.
Participants from all ages danced and swayed to the music and satsang by Krish.
That day we all experienced Guru’s grace in its full form. The participants who where stiff and a few where sad and depressed due to recession forgot all the worries and soaked themselves in Bhakti and experienced Mukti.

GURUDEV SAYS ......!!!

GURUDEV SAYS:

If you have problems, remember five things.
- Everything is impermanent, it will pass, and things will change.

- You are bigger than the problem, it only seems to you that your energy is lower but your own consciousness is bigger than any problem.

- Remember (you can realize from past events) that you have always been supported and helped, know that you will always be supported.

- Think of those with problems bigger than yours, that will shift your focus from yourself.

- Put things in perspective against the cosmos, everything is nothing as the Buddhists say but that nothing is not emptiness, it is emptiness pervaded by our consciousness which is but love and compassion. Everything is nothing. That will give you such deep rest when you meditate upon it...(he took us through a most restful meditation after that) .

Theharau

This is a lovely poem written by one of our participants of the 17th-22nd March course. Just wanted to share it with all of you.

Theharau
Manzil bhi hai, raaste bhi hai
Chal bhi diye ghar se…
Hai magar kaisie yeh dagar
Kya kahain socha tha yehi kabhi?
Thi jis mukam ki hasrat
Tha har pal jiska armaan
Chuni thi joh raah aapne
Kya vahhi ho, mazabaan?
Safar mein hi kaahi
Khoo gaye hum kaahi
Puche hai “antar-man” ab,
Kabtak bhatakte firoge vaiyragi?
Zindagi ki is baghati raftar mein
Palak japakte beet rahe in saalo mein
Dundho aapne aapko, aae begaane!
Theharo kaahi, la do ab theharau kaahi…
Bewajaah, bematlab
Ho deewaane ghoom rahe
Aankhen hote huae bhi
Ho paaiso ka kala aeenak taane rahe,
Ooh andhe! Sacchai ki nazar se dekh,
Thehar ja kaahi, la do ab theharau kaahi….
Palatkar dekh toh le
Aapne kaahi piche chut toh nahi gaye?
Saath jo kadam mila rahe thaee
Tha jinhone mushkiloe mein sambhala,
Voh saathi, voh humsafar, voh badae
Rishhto ke putale toh nahi ban gaye????
Ab bhi waqt hai,
Thehar ja kaahi, la de ab theharau kaahi……
Saanse bhar aapne aapko sama le
Maasoom ban fir koi masti aazama le
Aapno ke saang milkar har khushi chura le
Jahan kaahi bhi ja, pyaar ki mehafile sajjaa de!!
Raango se aapni duniya savaar de
Bejijakh geet gun guna
Chhoti chhoti har khushi ka mazza utha le
Ajanabieo mein phir umeed ki kiran jalaa de.
Kudarat ke taufao ka
Aapno ke bemisaal pyaar ka
Doosaro ke niswaarth bhavanao ka
Mazboot banati zindagi ki uuch-nich ka bhi …
Thehar kar kaahi, la kar theharau kaahi…
Jhukar kar shukriya
Kar bande, Us Khuda ko salaam !!
Thehar ja kaahi, la de ab theharau kaahi!!!

HE is always with us.

In our present part 1 course, there is a lady who comes from Gorai. She leaves her house at 5:15am to take a bus and come to Mahavir Nagar. Today, she was waiting for a long time but there was no bus which arrived. She called the person who had reffered her to the course and asked what to do, how she could reach the course. This person asked her to pray to Guruji and said he would arrange to reach her on time for the course. Few minutes later, a rickshaw pulled in front of her. The rickshaw driver just nodded asking her to sit , she got in without thinking much (which she says, she would have never done normally). She did not tell the rickshaw driver where she wanted to go. The rickshaw driver brought her to Kamla Vihar Sports Club, Mahavir Nagar and said " Yehi aana tha na tumko, ab main roz subah tumhe lene aaonga". When she looked up, she felt it was Guruji who had come to reach her to the course on time. She was in complete awe and tears flowed as she narrated this experience in the course.

This is how grace flows in our lives. We just need to feel the presence of our Master, one call from the depth of our heart and he comes to take care of us.

HE is always with us.

HOLI - festival of colours.
- H.H.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Life should be full colours! And each colour is meant to be seen and enjoyed separately, for if seen all mixed together, they will appear all black. All the colours like red, yellow, green, etc. should exist side by side and simultaneously be enjoyed together.Similarly, in life, different roles played by the same person should exist peacefully and distinctly inside him. For example, when a father continues to play his role of a 'father' in office, things are bound to go for a toss. In our country, a politician is sometimes a father first and a leader later.

In which ever situation we are in, we should play the corresponding role to the hilt and then life is bound to become colourful! This concept was called 'Varnashram' in ancient India. This meant - everyone, be it a doctor, teacher, father, whoever or whatever, is expected to play their roles with full enthusiasm. Mixing professions will always be counter productive. If a doctor also wants to do business, he should run a business separately and secondary to his profession and not make business out of medicine. Keeping these roles, these 'containers' of the mind, separate and distinct, is the secret of a happy life and this is what ‘HOLI’ teaches.

All colours emanate from white and when mixed again, they become black. When your mind is white and consciousness - pure, peaceful, happy and meditative, different colours and roles emerge. We get the strength to play various roles with full sincerity against the background of this consciousness is bound to be successful. We have to dip into our consciousness time and again. If we only look inwards and play around with colours outside of us, we are bound to find blackness all over again. Between roles we have to take deep rests, in order to play each role sincerely.

Now, the biggest impediment to deep rest is desire. Desire means stress. Even petty desires cause high stress, - the higher goals give relatively less botheration! Desire really tortures the mind at times. So what does one do? The only way out is to focus attention on the desire and surrender it. This act of focusing awareness or sight on desire or Kama is called 'kamakshi'. With awareness, desire loses it grip and surrender happens. Nectar flows out from within. The Goddess, Kamashi, holds a sugarcane stem in one hand and a flower in the other. The sugar-cane stem is so hard and has to be squeezed in order to obtain sweetness, while the flower is soft and collecting nectar from it is so easy. This truly represents life, which indeed has a little of both! It is far easier to obtain this bliss from the inside than it is to obtain pleasure from the outside world - which needs a lot more effort.

Lift Your Spirit with Joy of Colour

The word purana comes from the Sanskrit word 'pura nava', which means 'that which is new in the city'. It is a new way of presenting things. Puranas are full of colourful illustrations and stories. On the surface they appear to be mere fantasy, but actually they contain subtle truths.
An asura king, Hiranyakashyap, wanted everyone to worship him. But, his son Prahalad was a devotee of Lord Narayana, the king's sworn enemy. Angry, the king wanted Holika, his sister to get rid of Prahalad. Empowered to withstand fire; Holika sat on a burning pyre holding Prahalad on her lap. But, it was Holika who was burnt, Prahalad came out unharmed.
Hiranyakashyap symbolizes one who is gross. Prahalad embodies innocence, faith and bliss/joy. The spirit cannot be confined to love material only. Hiranyakashyap wanted all the joy to come from the material world. It did not happen that way. The individual jivatma cannot be bound to the material forever. It’s natural to eventually move towards Narayana, one's higher self.
Holika stands for the past burdens that try to burn Prahalad's innocence. But Prahlad, so deeply rooted in Narayana Bhakthi could burn all past impressions (sanskaras) and joy springs up with new colours. Life becomes a celebration. Burning the past, you gear up for a new beginning. Your emotions, like fire, burn you. But when there is a fountain of colours, they add charm to your life. In ignorance, emotions are a bother; in knowledge, the same emotions add colours.
In some places Holi is commemorated as the destruction of a female demon called Putana by Sri Krishna. An evening before the full moon night of Holi, huge bonfires are burnt as a symbolic representation of burning those evils. This exuberant festival is also associated with the immortal love of Radha & Krishna and played with all colours and vigour in Mathura (the place of birth of Krishna) and in Brindavan.

Today the spirit of Holi is much needed for all races to shed their inhibitions and differences and be in one colour - that of joy, peace and happiness. May all be coloured with one colour-the colour of Joy, the Colour of Shyam (Shyam Rung).Joy resides fully in Shyam.

So who is Shyam?

Untarung Shyam, Prem Roop Shyam,

Sneh roop Shyam, Karuna Sindhu Shyam-Ram, Krishna,

Shiv - Shakti, Megh Neel ShyamKarmaroop, Nirvikalpa- Vasudev Shyam!

Untarung Shyam….

Shyam, the one myself,one who is embodiment of Pure Love, Kindness and Compassion.He is Ram, Krishana, Shiv and Shakti -the beautiful Vast consciousness.He is eternal, the giver of Joy and Happiness. Shyam is eternal Joy! May all be immersed in Shyam rung and celebrate true Holi.

Each emotion is associated with a colour- Anger with red, jealousy with green, vibrancy and happiness with yellow, love with pink, vastness with blue, peace with white, sacrifice with saffron and knowledge with violet.

Holi should be colourful, not boring. When each colour is seen clearly, it is colourful. When all the colours get mixed, you end up with black .So also in life, we play different roles. Each role and emotion needs to be clearly defined. Emotional confusion creates problems. When you are a father, you have to play the part of a father. You can’t be a father at office. When you mix the roles in your life, you start making mistakes. Whatever role you play in life, give yourself fully to it. Harmony in diversity makes life vibrant and more colourful.

One legend talks about the time when Parvati was in Tapasya and Shiva was in Samadhi. In facilitating the divine union of the two, Kamadeva, the Lord of Love, gets burnt into ashes by Shiva. Shiva had to come out of his Samadhi to join Parvati, for celebration to take place. 'Parva' is festival and 'Parvati' means 'born out of festival'- celebration! For samadhi to unite with celebration, the presence of desire was necessary.So, desire (Kama) was invoked. But again, to celebrate, you need to overcome desireSo Shiva opened his third eye and burned Kama. When desire in the mind is burnt, celebration happens. A state of vairagya is not devoid of 'ras'or colours- Vairagya is often misunderstood as 'neeras' or monotonous. No. no.. actually it is 'navras', it has all the colours!